Silane compounds have a wide variety of uses. It is often desirable to prepare an aqueous solution or a water-based composition of such silane compounds. Water soluble compositions of silanes are useful as primers for various metal substrates, additives in filler pretreatments, as aqueous resin systems, as an additive in binders, adhesives, sealants, surface coatings and paints (latex-acrylic).
Many otherwise useful silane compounds are, however, water insoluble. It is known to use silane-based compositions for solubilizing water-insoluble silanes. For example U.S. Pat. No. 5,051,129 issued Sep. 24, 1991, discloses the use of a coupling agent of the general formulae A.sub.(4-n) Si Y.sub.n, where A is a monovalent organic radical and Y is a hydrolyzable radical, and n is 1, 2 or 3. It is well known that certain silanes can be made water-soluble by, for example, pH adjustment. However, these solutions have limited stability, or shelf life, and contain by-product alcohols which are flammable. These prior art compositions have the disadvantages of employing flammable organic compounds as carriers or release volatile organic compounds ("VOC") as the silanes cure by hydrolysis.
It is therefore desirable to provide an inexpensive and convenient to use silane-based composition and method for solubilizing insoluble silanes that avoids the problems and limitations of the prior art. The invention also contemplates the water soluble, functionally-terminated silane end products that are essentially alcohol free (i.e., less than about 2% alcohol) and that they have a wide variety of industrial and commercial applications.